Director of Operations

Director of Operations – Role

Program Operations (40% of their time)
The Director of Operations ensures that the Fellowship and the Fellow experience runs smoothly, including:

• Working to coordinate diverse, reputable, and well-known Master Course Teacher visits including 1-on-1’s and agendas to ensure that the Master Course Teachers have an efficient and enjoyable experience at Watson Institute.
• Leading communications with the Master Course Teachers before, during, and after their workshop. This includes managing the workshop follow-up and sending the Master Course Teacher a handwritten card and thank you gift within 48-hours of their workshop.
• Gathering the Master Course Teacher’s bio and headshot to share with the Fellows in advance of the workshop.
• Sending post-workshop questionnaires to all Master Course Teachers to receive feedback on their experience.
• Capturing photos during the Master Course workshop for post-event promotion. Draft promotional materials (social media posts, newsletter highlights, etc.) for Watson Institute to use when sharing about the Master Course workshop.
• Supporting the Director of Programs to ensure that all the workshops have the required materials. For in-person workshops, this includes reaching out to any vendors, reserving spaces, purchasing supplies, creating agendas, and coordinating team involvement.
• Supporting the Director of Programs with the technology that is required to implement a smooth virtual experience for the Fellowship. This includes managing Zoom breakout rooms during workshop sessions.
• Lead all operational logistics for the in-person gatherings that kick-off and wrap-up the Fellowship Supporting the facilitation of workshops and additional programmatic elements within the Fellowship.
• Working with the Watson Institute Team to ensure that all Fellow-related events are well organized: including creating event RACI charts and managing internal communications for a successful execution of the event.
• Managing the Watson Institute Fellowship calendar including workshop times, Master Course Teacher visits, etc.
• Purchasing SWAG for Fellows, team, and partners.
• Serving as the Staff Liaison for all Fellows as they plan and execute their Basecamps, including reviewing their Basecamp budgets, supporting the Fellows with Master Course Teacher and/or Mentor recruitment, and gathering all Basecamp impact reports from the Fellows.
• Supporting the Director of Development to ensure the Fellows are hitting their target impact metrics during their Basecamps.
• Leading the implementation of Summit, the culminating event of the Fellowship.
• Design and facilitate Fellowship initiatives to create a sense of community and belonging amongst the Fellows.

Fellow Search Process (30% of their time):
Watson Institute’s network of over 350 nominators are the primary way in which strong prospective applicants find out about Watson Institute. This individual will collaborate with Watson Institute’s Search Team to strengthen and build relationships with new and existing nominators for our programs run for leading corporations. The elements of the nominator process include:

• Designing Search Strategy: This individual will begin by doing an analysis of the most effective recruiting sources from previous years with a particular focus on recruitment for programs run for leading corporations. Based on the results of the analysis, the individual will refine Watson Institute’s search strategy for corporations and foundations aimed at finding the world’s most promising next-generation leaders and entrepreneurs.
• Identifying strong prospective nominators: Through research and recommendations from current nominators, the Director of Operations identifies strong prospective nominators. This individual should expect to reach out to 10 new prospective nominators each week.
• Building new nominator partnerships: Once strong prospects are identified, the Director of Operations leads the process of setting up calls and meetings to bring on board new nominators with a specific expertise for building programs with leading corporations and/or foundations. This individual should plan to meet with at least 3 nominators each week during recruitment season. Meetings with nominators are usually done over the phone or video conference unless they are local.
• Strengthening existing nominator partnerships: Through research and learning conversations, the Director of Operations identifies and implements a strategy to strengthen engagement and community amongst nominators for global leading corporations.
• Building community: The Director of Operations will be responsible for reaching out to, connecting with, and engaging established community members from each community where the Fellowship will run in order to source the strongest local candidates for the Fellowship.
• Corporate and foundation partners: In addition to nominators and university partners, the Director of Operations should plan to collaborate directly with the program’s corporate and/or foundation partner to identify and recruit students from their networks. This is of key importance to keep the corporate and/or foundation partner engaged in the beginning stages of the program.
• Documenting each Nominator relationship: The Director carefully leads all documentation for new and prospective nominators and school partners through the Watson Institute CRM system. This individual will recommend and implement best practices for all nominator documentation.
• Leveraging social media: The Director of Operations should leverage social media, opportunity sites, event sites, and other platforms to identify and recruit the most promising candidates for the Fellowship.
• Onboarding & admissions: The Director of Operations leads the Fellow onboarding and admissions process including reviewing Fellow applications, conducting Fellow interviews, managing the Fellowship's WhatsApp group, and coordinating any logistical pieces for future in-person components of the program.

Fellow Admissions Process (15% of their time):

• Communication with prospective Fellows: The Director of Operations will support communication with next-generation entrepreneurs and leaders who are interested in participating in the 6-month program to ensure a smooth application process.
• Lead Program Review Process: This individual will review all applications for the program, narrow down the list of top candidates, and walk each candidate through the interview process.
• Lead Fellow Onboarding: The Director of Operations will be responsible for preparing all admitted Fellows to begin the 6-month program. This includes answering ongoing questions the Fellows may have and serving as a resource for what to expect.
• Melt Prevention: The Director of Operations will develop a strategy to follow-up with strong leads and increase retention rates to prevent high-levels of melt. In addition, the Director will design a process that reorients any applicant who does not meet the criteria established by the corporate or foundation partner to another Watson Institute program that best fits their skills and interests.

Financial Operations (15% of their time)
The Director of Operations works with the Executive Director to execute financial operations, including:

• Tracking the Fellowship budget against the grant budget.
• Review and provide feedback to all Fellows on their basecamp budgets.
• Raising any issues of overspending or underspending on the grant in a timely manner so that an action plan can be put in place to remedy the situation.
• Making transfers to Fellows in order for them to effectively run their Basecamps.

New responsibilities may develop as the Director of Operations position evolves.*